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BUSINESS IS PERSONAL MARK RIFFEY
THE ONE SENTENCE THAT ACAN MAKE OR BREAK YOU
S WE’VE DISCUSSED BEFORE, I still believe that well written direct mail works when it is done
properly because I see the results. While much of it is truly “junk”, there are folks out there producing high-producing mail pieces. What do I mean by “high-produc- ing?” I mean mail that survives a trip from the mail box to the kitchen table, then gets opened, then gets read, then prompts the recipient to take action.
these things aloud before sending helps me write them in my voice. When I read something written in a way that doesn’t sound like my voice, it feels terribly obvi- ous as soon as I say it out loud.
Do your emails sound like your voice? Do the things you put in the mail sound like your voice? Sounding like you, i.e.: using the words and sentence structure you use is the easy part. It’s crucial to convey your message with your personal credibility and desire to help the client. Perfect it one sentence at a time.
If it works, keep doing it. If it doesn’t
work, x it, or stop doing it unless you’re
willing to x it. Many have taken the
second option, believing that it no longer
works. Can Break it?
Each of those steps must be success- ful for a piece to be high-producing. Oth- erwise, the piece gets tossed at the post o ce, or on the way home, or on the way from the street-side mailbox to the house, and so on. Even if it does make it to the kitchen table, it has to meet the smell test to get opened, and then again to get read and so on.
About That One Sentence
That one sentence occurs in your mail piece multiple times. Anything that appears on the face of a mail piece can be the one sentence that either provokes someone to keep the mail or toss it. This same cycle occurs for the face of the mail piece, the back of the envelope, the head- line and salutation on the letter inside, and every sentence thereafter.
Too many mail pieces (and emails) ignore this simple progression. It’s a conversation. If you’re standing in front of someone talking with them to both understand what their needs are and help them understand how you can help them, you’re doing the same thing. If you say something that breaks the trust you’re building with the prospect/client you’re speaking with, the conversation is e ectively over – which is the equivalent of your mail piece going into the trash.
Remember, your email or your mail piece is no more than a proxy for you standing there. It needs to be in your voice, while re ecting your perspec- tive and expertise. I nd that reading
There’s always a risk that a mail piece will go down in ames at any point between the PO Box/mailbox and the kitchen table. The aforementioned smell test isn’t a one time thing – it has to be passed at every step of the way.
The one sentence that can break it and make all the e ort and expense of send- ing that piece is the one that destroys your credibility.
I received a letter like this last week. Someone tried to be clever on the face of the envelope and trick the reader into opening the envelope. While it probably worked on some people, it will destroy the credibility of the sender with many other readers. At best, that piece will go straight to the trash, which is how I han- dled it. With others, it could create some blowback to the organization who mailed it. With some, it could make that organi- zation all but dead to the reader.
You obviously don’t want any of these things to happen. It may seem like a waste to spend a couple of paragraphs to remind you of this possibility, and I simply do so to make it clear that every step in the process of reviewing, opening and reading the mail is an opportunity to both provoke interest and lose it.
These same challenges a ect your email pieces, blog posts and any other materials you place in front of clients. In fact, the same can be said for a face to face conversation you have with a client or prospect.
“I STILL BELIEVE THAT WELL WRITTEN DIRECT MAIL WORKS WHEN IT IS DONE PROPERLY.”
Want to learn more about Mark or ask him to write about a strategic, operations or marketing problem? Email him at mri ey@ atheadbeacon.com.
What About the One Sentence That
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